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#215625 - 11/30/11 08:31 PM Cost of Raising a Child in 2011 - Up Again
Anne Holmes Administrator Offline
Boomer in Chief

Registered: 03/12/10
Posts: 3212
Loc: Illinois
No wonder I am not a grandparent yet! Having just read this article in CNN Money, I suspect my (very smart and fiscally responsible adult) kids have decided they can't afford to have children!

Yes, I know babies often come along without any planning, but I suspect I raised kids who are logical and pragmatic enough to actually think this decision through --

Apparently it now costs nearly 40% more (and that's NOT including designer duds or college tuition) for a middle-income, two-parent family to raise a child to age 18 than it did just 10 years ago. That percentage figure works out to about an additional $60,000 if you are into actual numbers, by the way...

Oh, the actual dollar figure? Apparently it averaged $226,920 last year.

I got started on this line of thought because I just read a "poem" - attributed to anonymous, sadly -- that talked about the costs/value of raising a child.

It was part of a thought-provoking essay questioning whether or not having kids is a good bargain. (Of course they are.)

The poem stated a cost per child figure, and I started wondering just how accurate that number was.


It's a great essay/poem, by the way, even though the numbers are too low for today. Here 'tis:

Quote:

The Price of Children
Author Unknown

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 years of age and came up with
$160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But
$160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates
into:

$8,896.66 a year,
$741.3 month, or $171.08 a week.
That's a mere $24.24 a day!
Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is "don't have children if you want to be rich." Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140?

Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
Giggles under the covers every night.
More love than your heart can hold.
Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:

finger-paint,
carve pumpkins,
play hide-and-seek,
catch lightning bugs, and
never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:

keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watch Saturday morning cartoons, go to Disney movies, and wish on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:

retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off a bike, removing a splinter, filling a wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the:

first step,
first word,
first bra,
first date, and
first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God.
You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits.

One day they will love you without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!

_________________________
Boomer in Chief of Boomer Women Speak and the National Association of Baby Boomer Women.
www.nabbw.com
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#215629 - 12/01/11 02:33 PM Re: Cost of Raising a Child in 2011 - Up Again [Re: Anne Holmes]
jabber Offline
Member

Registered: 02/17/05
Posts: 10032
Loc: New York State
Guess the estimates I heard were about a quarter of a million, because they included college costs. I don't know how people with more than two kids do it. It blows the mind. crazy

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#215631 - 12/01/11 05:05 PM Re: Cost of Raising a Child in 2011 - Up Again [Re: jabber]
Anne Holmes Administrator Offline
Boomer in Chief

Registered: 03/12/10
Posts: 3212
Loc: Illinois
Jabber, tuition expenses are outrageous these days, too.

I just checked for my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and found that for the academic year 2011-2012, instate tuition is $9,671! (It's over $25,000 for out of state...) And that is for a good Big 10 school, not a fancy private college where the tuition has traditionally been much higher.

I recall that in-state undergrad tuition had gone up drastically in the 70s when I was there, but I still don't think it was much over $1,000 to $1,500 a year. And I remember my Dad saying how high that was, compared to what he'd paid in the 50s...

(I well remember this because my parents told me they'd pay 100% of my tuition to go to school in Madison - my home town - but that if I wanted to go elsewhere, I would have to come up with the difference in tuition myself. I HAD wanted to go out of state, but I soon figured out UW Madison was a very good place to get an education, and I quickly decided to take the more financially "easy" route!)

So clearly tuition DOES add a huge chunk to the costs of raising a child... could easily be more than an additional $25,000 per year!
_________________________
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#215633 - 12/01/11 06:54 PM Re: Cost of Raising a Child in 2011 - Up Again [Re: Anne Holmes]
jabber Offline
Member

Registered: 02/17/05
Posts: 10032
Loc: New York State
Yes. My nephew graduated from Purdue and the cost was $100,000. plus for four years. He got some sort of engineering degree.

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#215634 - 12/01/11 07:33 PM Re: Cost of Raising a Child in 2011 - Up Again [Re: jabber]
Anne Holmes Administrator Offline
Boomer in Chief

Registered: 03/12/10
Posts: 3212
Loc: Illinois
Well as far as I can tell, your nephew's investment in his education ought to pay off handsomely for him. The world always seems to need more engineers.

My nephew is at Cornell, getting an engineering degree with a specialty in optics. Who knew those two areas of specialty would ever intersect?
_________________________
Boomer in Chief of Boomer Women Speak and the National Association of Baby Boomer Women.
www.nabbw.com
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www.boomerlifestyle.com
www.boomerco.com

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#215648 - 12/03/11 12:39 AM Re: Cost of Raising a Child in 2011 - Up Again [Re: Anne Holmes]
Sandy N. Offline


Registered: 12/23/10
Posts: 201
Loc: Washington State
We're contributing to a college fund for our 7-month-old granddaughter. Even a modest fund can grow quite big over 18 years, and every little bit helps.
_________________________
Sandy Nachlinger, author of BLUEBONNETS FOR ELLY; co-author with Sandra Allen of I.O.U. SEX
http://sandranachlinger.blogspot.com

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#215649 - 12/03/11 01:00 AM Re: Cost of Raising a Child in 2011 - Up Again [Re: Sandy N.]
Di Offline
Member

Registered: 11/15/05
Posts: 2798
Loc: NM, transplant from NJ
Gosh, I went to college for free because my mother died. Hmmmm.......years ago when I was growing up, such "expenses" were never detailed the way they are today. If parents "think about it", they'd prob be depressed.

Glad I'm already raised!!!

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#215651 - 12/03/11 04:50 AM Re: Cost of Raising a Child in 2011 - Up Again [Re: Di]
Anne Holmes Administrator Offline
Boomer in Chief

Registered: 03/12/10
Posts: 3212
Loc: Illinois
Di, I'm curious about your comment: My kids didn't get to go to college free because their dad died. Was she also a veteran or something like that?
_________________________
Boomer in Chief of Boomer Women Speak and the National Association of Baby Boomer Women.
www.nabbw.com
www.boomerwomenspeak.com
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#215659 - 12/04/11 12:46 AM Re: Cost of Raising a Child in 2011 - Up Again [Re: Anne Holmes]
Di Offline
Member

Registered: 11/15/05
Posts: 2798
Loc: NM, transplant from NJ
Actually, since my Dad was disabled and I was "college age" (18)...I was able to get grants (this was in Pennsylvania) and collected soc sec death benefits. Actually both my brother and I did. (he's younger).

We collected SS until we graduated.

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#215662 - 12/04/11 05:13 PM Re: Cost of Raising a Child in 2011 - Up Again [Re: Di]
Anne Holmes Administrator Offline
Boomer in Chief

Registered: 03/12/10
Posts: 3212
Loc: Illinois
Ahh, that explains it. Bill had always been either a state or federal employee. As such, I don't think he paid into SS. He paid into a different fund.

There was a lump sum payment from the feds when he died, but it went to me, as they were both minors. I put it into a college fund that paid their tuition. So both were able to graduate with no tuition debt. I have always been delighted they weren't saddled with THAT on graduation!!
_________________________
Boomer in Chief of Boomer Women Speak and the National Association of Baby Boomer Women.
www.nabbw.com
www.boomerwomenspeak.com
www.boomerlifestyle.com
www.boomerco.com

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